


Awaken

by domesticadventures



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Dean/Castiel - Freeform, ESPECIALLY the robots, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Star Wars References, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers, even the robots, everyone is queer because i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 11:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5538953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domesticadventures/pseuds/domesticadventures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Stynes come for her, Charlie is armed with the gun she still pretends is a blaster and a desperate hope that’s only grown stronger with every disappointment.</p><p>--</p><p>In which Charlie lives and sees Star Wars: The Force Awakens. (Note: this includes a couple spoilers for the movie.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awaken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [propinquitous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/propinquitous/gifts).



In the months following her parents’ accident, Charlie bounces around from one therapist to the next. One adult after another tries to rekindle her interest in living a life she doesn’t feel she deserves.

She knows they’re trying to fix her, but she doesn’t want to be fixed. She doesn’t even want to be helped.

The fifth one she sees ends up helping her anyway, though.

She takes a long look at Charlie’s shirt after she slips out of her jacket, and that day, the session starts with her asking, “Oh, you like Star Wars?”

It winds up being the first appointment that isn’t absolutely insufferable. Charlie learns from the therapist that there’s a new movie being made -- a prequel -- and by the end, she’s legitimately excited in a way she hasn’t been for a long time.

“You wanna be there opening night, right?” the therapist asks.

Charlie realizes what she’s doing, but this time she doesn’t have the will to fight it. Still, she has a certain reputation to maintain. “Isn’t that a kinda stupid reason to get out of bed in the morning?” she asks.

The therapist scoffs in mock offense. “What better reason is there than a new Star Wars?”

Charlie can think of at least two better reasons, but at this point, she’ll take what she can get.

\--

Even at fourteen, Charlie knows Episode I isn’t quite on the same level as the original trilogy. She expects to be disappointed, but honestly, it isn’t as bad as she had feared. She has fun picking it apart with other fans on the message boards, and if anything, it just makes her love the originals that much more.

From then on, every interaction becomes a new role-playing scenario. When she’s doing boring, tedious schoolwork, she’s Leia studying to be a great leader. When she fights back against the boys who pull her hair and make fun of her Star Wars shirts, she’s Leia again, fighting against the evil Empire.

She still catches Episode II on the midnight release, but she spends most of the movie with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes. Still, she likes feeling part of something, surrounded by all the other fans who were hoping for something better. She pretends she’s Leia, surrounded by the Rebel forces, all devoted to their righteous cause.

Charlie learns to drive while she waits patiently for the next movie, and when her hands shake on the wheel, she imagines she’s Leia, using the power of the Force to guide her. She channels her hero on a daily basis, forcing herself to be calm and polite and reasonable when interacting with other people, to be as poised as Princess Leia on a diplomatic mission.

By the time Episode III actually comes out, Charlie is old enough to feel the true sting of disappointment that comes with it. There’s a sense of loss that comes with the knowledge that it’s over, that these six episodes are all she gets.

She spends a few weeks in a rut before her ennui shifts to frustration with herself. She has six whole movies, which is three more than she ever expected. Nothing is going to take that from her. Nothing is going to change the fact that Leia exists.

The following Comic-Con, she gets the tattoo to prove it. And also, a little, as a reminder to herself.

The first time Charlie picks up a gun to fight back against the things that go bump in the night, she pretends it’s a blaster and takes aim.

She thinks, _This is what Leia would do._

\--

When the Stynes come for her, Charlie is armed with the gun she still pretends is a blaster and a desperate hope that’s only grown stronger with every disappointment.

Eldon Styne is inhumanly strong with all his mismatched parts, exactly like something out of science fiction, but he still only has one brain.

When he lunges at her, Charlie yells “Like _hell_ am I dying before Episode Seven” and pulls the trigger.

\--

Charlie buys her tickets for Episode VII in the first two minutes they become available. She lines up outside the theater in advance, spends hours talking excitedly with the other fans, takes selfies with stormtroopers and Darth Vaders and miscellaneous Jedi.

When the movie starts, Charlie claps and cheers with the rest of them before they settle into respectful silence for the rest of the film. When it ends, though, all bets are off, and she winds up tearfully hugging the people sitting next to her as they all talk excitedly at full volume.

The first thing she does once she gets home is call Dean. His phone rings and rings until it clicks over to voicemail, and she leaves him a simple message: “Dude. You have _got_ to give me a call when you’re done with whatever hunt you’re on. It’s important.”

She falls asleep smiling.

\--

Dean calls her back a couple days later. Before he can even finish his “What’s up?”, Charlie is shouting, “I’m taking you to see Star Wars, it was--”

“Woah woah woah woah,” Dean interrupts. “Stop right there. No spoilers.”

Charlie rolls her eyes. “C’mon, Dean, have a little faith. As if I would spoil it for you. I just wanted to tell you it was--”

“No,” Dean says. “Nuh uh. Absolutely not. I don’t even want to hear whether it was good or bad. I want to go into it pure as the fresh fallen snow on Hoth.”

Charlie huffs an impatient sigh. “But you _will_ go,” she says.

She can hear his grin over the phone when he responds. “Hell yeah.”

\--

On the morning of December 25th, Charlie joins Dean, Sam, and Castiel for their first viewing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

When Charlie looks over at Dean as the opening text scrolls and sees tears in his eyes, it’s pretty much the best Christmas present ever.

What’s even better, though, is the excited conversation they have once they’re out of the theater, safe from spoiling the other fans waiting in the hallway. All of them are grinning, Castiel and Sam discussing the scientific possibility of lightsabers while Charlie and Dean talk about how much they love Rey.

“My fierce space lesbian,” Charlie sighs happily. “Gotta say, though, I’m also a big fan of how Poe and Finn are so grossly in love with one another.”

“What do you mean?” Dean says, sounding legitimately confused. “They barely interacted.”

“Oh my God, but the moments when they were together? They totally ran through every romantic trope in the book. I mean, c’mon! Finn kept Poe’s jacket when he thought he had died! That’s so disgustingly romantic.”

“I--I mean, that’s--that’s open for interpretation, don’t you think?” Dean stammers.

When Charlie turns to him with an eyebrow preemptively raised, she can see that his ears have turned a bright red. Cas, meanwhile, has stopped debating with Sam and is giving Dean a silently appraising look. Sam is coughing up the drink he’d been in the middle of sipping.

Charlie feels like there’s some joke here that she’s missing, but she loves these nerds and she can tell Dean wants an out, so she gives it to him, just shrugs and lets it go, moving past it so they can all weigh in on what they thought of BB-8. On that topic, at least, the consensus is unanimously that she was cute and hilarious and awesome.

As they get in the car to go grab some lunch, all still cheerfully discussing and dissecting the movie, Charlie does a silent appraisal. She thinks of her new hero, Rey. She thinks of two more movies waiting on the horizon. She looks around at her three friends, still laughing and smiling and happy.

Nothing is ever going to replace her parents, she knows.

Even so, she has a lot of really great reasons to get out of bed in the morning.


End file.
